An operation input device described in Patent Literature 1 includes a camera that captures an image around a driver's seat. A gesture of a hand of an operator is detected from an image captured by the camera. An operation intended by the operator is determined from the detected gesture. Also, a device installed to a vehicle is operated according to the determined operation.
More specifically, a first operation region corresponding to an upper part of a steering wheel, a second operation region corresponding to an upper part of a dashboard, or the like is preliminarily set within a region captured by the camera. For example, when the operator (driver) wishes to make an input into a navigation device, the operator becomes able to make a selection or a determination from various navigation-operation menu items (first attribute, second attribute, and so on) by making an operation (gesture), relative to the upper part of the steering wheel (first operation region) or the upper part of the dashboard (second operation region), such as by rubbing two stretched fingers or by touching the upper part with one finger.
In the operation input device described in Patent Literature 1, a predetermined mark is put on the steering wheel and it is detected whether the mark is displaced from a home position (whether the steering wheel is turned). While the steering wheel is turned, a detection of a gesture is not performed on the assumption that the operator is driving.
In an interface device described in Patent Literature 2, a motion of a target part of a user is captured by an imaging camera, and a direction, a speed, acceleration and the like of the motion of the particular target part of the user are detected from an obtained moving image. The interface device outputs an operation command corresponding to the detected motion and displays a changing of states of an electronic device provided with a display device on a display screen of a display.
More specifically, the user specifies a reference position by holding a palm over the imaging camera equipped to the display device for several seconds. Then, the reference position is inputted into an electronic device main body and a menu operation screen is displayed on the display device. Subsequently, the user makes a hand gesture by quickly sweeping the palm to the right (or to the left), relaxing the hand, slowly returning the palm to the reference position, and resting the palm at the reference position. Objects displayed on the menu operation screen of the display device are scrolled to the right (or to the left) by one unit (by one object) and the object scrolled to the reference position is selected. Further, when the user moves the palm toward the display device (imaging camera), a state of the object is changed from a selected state to a determined state.